Group+Understanding

GROUP UNDERSTANDING This project is the development of a WebQuest which takes the students on a journey over a sequence of six lessons covering reconciliation, garden design, Indigenous art, knowledge of plants and the significance they hold to Aboriginal people. It culminates in the '60 second design' of a reconciliation garden, drawing on the logical structuring of knowledge through the WebQuest. It is a WebQuest designed to encourage students' higher order thinking (as per Bloom's Taxonomy) as they work through planned stages of knowledge development, comprehension, analysis and synthesis. The theme of the WebQuest is designed to coincide with NAIDOC week, allowing Indigenous and non-Indigenous students to work together enriching their knowledge of Australia’s first peoples and grasp an understanding of why reconciliation is important to all Australians. This is of particular importance to students at Broome North Primary School, as Broome as a large proportion of Indigenous students, making this learning sequence of particular significance to student's lives. The learning sequence through the six lessons offers a range of activities that cater to students' multiple intelligences (as per Gardener). Outlines of tasks, and the tasks themselves, are presented in a variety of ways. Examples are verbal linguistic/visual (Movie Maker, Podcast), visual/spatial (Brainstorm, Concept Maps, Find-a- Word), naturalistic (garden design/art symbols), kinaestheti c (using the mouse and keyboard) and interpersonal (group work).

The members of each group will work in collaboration through the WebQuest, allow for cooperative problem-solving and construction of knowledge. The 'Justification of ICT Tools' section below provides further information on the how the ICT tools used assists students construct their knowledge around this topic.